Calling All Caterers...please Help Me
Decorating By anorris3 Updated 30 May 2007 , 5:25pm by indydebi
I have to figure out how much food I need to make chicken and veggie kabobs for 300 people. Mainly I need to figure out how much chix as that is the biggest cost. I will be using this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Yummy-Honey-Chicken-Kabobs/Detail.aspx
I made this last weekend and it made about 20 kabobs with 3 pieces of chix per. I was going to estimate 1/3 lb of chix per person. Is this right or close? The 300 includes probably 100 kids and some vegetarians.
I was also going to mix/alternate cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, pineapples and maybe oranges to the recipe. When I use the conversion scale on there it just seems like so much food (120 onions!!!)
Please help me.
The great thing about allrecipes.com is that you can change the serving amount and it will automatically alter the recipe. So type in 300 servings and see how much chicken it says you need. I cook for our church and Ronald McDonald House all of the time.....and this is why I love that website. i will have to try that recipe....let me know how it goes.
sorry...I just read the bottom of your post that you did try that!
The last time I did brochettes like that it was for 30 people. I used 20 chicken breasts and ended up with 4 pieces of chicken on each skewer with enough for 2 skewers each person plus about 16 leftover. For 300 people, you probably could get away with using 1/2 breast per person, so 150 chicken breasts. I bought them skin and back on and removed the breasts myself - this saved quite a bit of money.
yes, 120 onions does sound like a lot, but keep factoring in that you are feeding 300 people!! I get this reaction all the time .... people can figure that at $15 a head, taking 6 people to dinner will cost $90, but they have no idea how to figure that at $15 a head, it will cost $1500 to feed 100 people. It's a LOT of people, ergo it's a LOT of food!
Is this a wedding? If so, find out what their total invite headcount was. There is usually a 60% show rate. So if they invited 500 people, they should expect 300 to show. If they INVITED 300 people, they should plan on 180 to 225 to show. If it's not a wedding, the 60% Rule may not be accurate, but it's a good rule of thumb to start with.
I use approx 25 lbs of chicken per 100 guests. The rule of thumb is 4 oz per person. You might get by with a little less than that with kabobs .... I don't know .... your call on that. I had a wedding last weekend for 90 people. I bought 24 lbs of chicken, cut each breast into about 4-5 strips each. When the last person went thru the line, there were 3 pcs of chicken left. That's the closest I have ever come to running out, so either this Polynesian Chicken was really good, or they were really good eaters (or both!)
I can get boneless, skinless chicken for about $2.50/lb at Sam's and Sysco. And if you order the chicken ahead of time at Sam's, you get a case discount. You should factor your scrap rate and your time if you choose to debone and deskin it yourself. While that can be a cost savings if you are cooking for your own family (dinner for 4 or 6), when you are dealing with dinner for 300, there is a time factor involved. In this business, time IS money. Even tho' I buy it already deboned and deskinned, I still have some trimming to do and I have to cut it into strips. This takes me or someone on my staff about 2 hours per 100 guests. So PLEASE factor how much time you have to spend doing this.
Feel free to PM me with any other particulars ..... I'll be glad to help any way I can.
Thanks so much for the help. This is actually for a cookout at the complex my husband manages. When I volunteered I estimated the show is usually around 100 ppl but then he told me he expects about 300 
. So now I have to actually do some math on it.
I have gotten mixed answers. I was thinking about 30-40 lbs of chicken...does that sound about right?
Without doing too much figuring would it be cheaper to do hamburgers and hotdogs with all the condiments than kabobs? When I made the kabobs before I think it cost about 50 cent per and I added cherry tomatoes to the recipe.
This is just my opinion, but cutting back on meat will make most people unhappy - except for the kids. Plus, kids are not overly fond of veggies and there will be TONS of waste. you can't "not" put them on your plate unlike condiments and NEVER make sandwiches with condiments already on them because too many people don't like condiments.
I'm not a caterer, but used to run our monthly special dinners for college for about 200 people and SIMPLE is always the best. The more "fun" you make the food, the less people will like it - always.
Also, skewers are hard to eat from and can be downright dangerous for kids (We always have to take the meat off for the kids). if they aren't seated, this will be a parent's nightmare.
Lastly, if this is an outdoor event and not a sitdown event, you will have skewers on the ground EVERYWHERE which will be a PITA to pick up and can really hurt some kids if they fall and they ALWAYS fall when running and chasing.
And not to be TOTALLY negative about teh kabobs, but it's SOOOOOO time consuming to do all of them and then half of them will have just the chicken eatenand ot the fruit and veggies...
I say, GO SIMPLER for your sanity.
Melissa
Berryblondeboys, I totally respect your opinion and when my dh said 300 ppl I was thinking back to the hamburgers and hot dogs. I am okay putting in the time plus his staff will help.
I am pretty sure the food will get eaten, even the veggies because most of the resident are international and tend to eat a greater variety than Americans for whatever reason. I also wanted to show them that we cookout more than just hot dogs and hamburgers.
The thing I haven't considered is the safety issue of the skewers. We may have to take the food off the skewers as we serve them or at least for the kiddies.
hmmm... what country is highly represented? Hot dogs will not be welcome by most...
We had a lot of international people and it's amazing what different cultures find "edible". Some places the idea of RAW veggies is appalling, other places cooking them is appalling...
I actually think Chicken is a FAR better choice than hamburgers and hotdogs - more international appeal, plus LOTS of people don't eat pork or beef!
Well, you can take off the skewer, or... maybe, make individual chicken on the grill and either veggies on skewers or done in grill baskets? Or meat on one skewer and veggies on another? and yep, havign staff take them off the skewer is the way to go if you have the staff to do it...
It's funny, but "I" love this idea and if "I" went to a cookout, I would be THRILLED with kabobs (though I wouldn't put plum tomatoes because those get SOOOOOOO hot and if you bite into them, they EXPLODE hot juices) I can't stand hot dogs and hamburgers are edible, but I hate condiments, so it's usually a "blah" meal for me...
I guess knowing your audience is key!
Melissa
anorris, is the chicken going to be the only meat served at this function? I assumed this will be one of a few buffet options, hence my estimate. I agree with indydebi as far as 1/4 lb meat/person is rule if that will be the only option. If it is, I think 25-30lbs will be plenty. Do you think many will go for seconds and thirds???
I think about half of the population is either from asian countries or middle eastern. About a third are from everywhere else. I think we have 30+ countries represented. This is a student population and most understand that we are not going to be able to cater to everyone's individual needs. We try to keep it pretty broad as far as choices and most seem to enjoy trying American cuisine especially when its free!
I think we are going to try a few beef kabobs but the majority will be chicken and then a few veggie. We will also have hot dogs for the kiddies (like mine) who aren't too particular about kabobs plus they are cheaper and cook faster.
In the past we normally do hamburgers (meat and veggie ones), hotdogs, and bbq chicken. And people eat until its gone regardless of how much we have.
I am figuring 2 kabobs per person. We will also have a couple salads, watermelon, chips and some cake.
Thanks for all your help. I could have probably figured it out but the support you gals give always makes it easier and a bit less overwhelming.
Thanks so much for the help. This is actually for a cookout at the complex my husband manages. When I volunteered I estimated the show is usually around 100 ppl but then he told me he expects about 300......
I would want to know where did he get the 300 number from? Thin air? Attendance at past cookouts? The biggest reason people overspend at these things is because they always (ALWAYS!) overestimate the number of people who will show up. I tell my brides, the trick to staying in budget is to get control of your headcount ..... you don't pay for those who are NOT showing up.
.... I was thinking about 30-40 lbs of chicken...does that sound about right?
If you go with the 4oz per person, 40 lbs will cover about 150 people. 4 oz is about 1/2 a breast. (The 6lb packs at Sam's has 12-13 breasts in it, so that makes each one about 1/2 lb .... 4 oz would be 1/2 a breast). At 4oz per person for 300 guests, you would need about 75-80 lbs. And that weight is after you factor your scrap rate .... any trimming of fat, or if you do the de-boning yourself, you will lose a LOT of weight in that process (it may be cheaper per lb, but you're throwing out a lot of the "pound", so it usually ends up not being as cheap as you thought.)
If you buy it already skinned and boned (for 300 people), then buy around 80 lbs. If you buy it with the idea of deboning/skinning it yourself, then you'll need to buy 100-125 lbs (becasue of the scrap factor).
....Without doing too much figuring would it be cheaper to do hamburgers and hotdogs with all the condiments than kabobs?...
I would have some hot dogs there for the kids and for those who may not like the 'bobs. You can get a pack of 50 hotdogs at GFS for about 10 cents each ($5.00+/- per package). A box of mustard packets at Sam's is $5.82 for 500 pkts; 200 ketchup pkts at GFS is $8.29.
Thanks so much indydebi. I do kind of think he pulled the number out of thin air. He has probably done 10 or so of these for roughly the same people. I just don't ever remember 300 people coming. One of our estimates is definitely off (probably his). But maybe not, there are about 300 apartments rented at our complex with normally more than 1 resident per apt and some as much as 6. So if half the residents came I guess it would be about 300 plus staff and scragglers from the complex next door. He normally over estimates so we will have enough and like I said before food never gets wasted here.
Also budget isn't that big of a deal here. I can't believe how much they spend at the other complexes. I think sometimes my dh sees it as a competition for who can spend the least.
I will be definitely buying skinned and deboned chicken. Eighty pounds seems like a whole lot. Maybe I was skrimping on the meat but I made 20 kabobs with less than two lbs of meat. So 40 lbs would make 400 chicken kabobs plus veggie and maybe beef kabobs.
I don't know, all of this hinges on how many people show and its almost impossible to get a count with less than a 50 person plus or minus count. Oh well somehow it will work out, hopefully.
Eighty pounds seems like a whole lot. Maybe I was skrimping on the meat but I made 20 kabobs with less than two lbs of meat. So 40 lbs would make 400 chicken kabobs plus veggie and maybe beef kabobs.
Not to be rude again, but 2 lbs of meat for 20 people is not a meal, but an appetizer. ONLY if there are other things to get besides (like other meat and/or bean dishes) or people are expected to get 4-5 of these, then "maybe".
and are the staff groundskeepers and housekeepers? or office staff? Check what kind of help you REALLY have. If they aren't used to dealign with food, skewering meat, cooking it properly and taking it off skewers will be more of a chore than it would be for food service workers.
Melissa
berryblondeboys I don't think you are being rude at all just very frank and I can appreciate that. I think you are just trying to let me know that I have a lot of work in store for me.
I was thinking that 2 lbs of meat would make 20 skewers and feed ten people. I know that is stretching it but I was trying to see about minimums. The minimums come well within what my husband wanted to spend so he will get extra where he thinks it is needed. I will be cutting and prepping everything the evening before so if I see that I am short with something we can just go get more.
I have figured the chix kabobs will have 3 pieces of meat, 4 onion, 2 g.pep, and 2 p.app. I plan on making at least 350 skewers of chix kabobs so that would mean 1050 pieces of meat, 1400 onion, 700 g.pep, and 300 p.app. I believe I can get about 30 small pieces of meat per chix breast so 40-50 lbs of chix, 50 med onions (25-30 pc/), 25 green pep (30 pc/), and 4 pineapples (60 pc/).
I will also have about 100 beef skewers and 50 veggie skewers. All of the skewers will be on the smaller side. This cookout is open to all residents on a first come first serve basis. I haven't done anything like this before so I know there will be issues. Hopefully not too many though.
I will have a couple people helping me with assembly and we will start a few hours before the cookout. If each kabob takes a minute to assemble then it would take about 3 hrs for 3 ppl to do. I am also pretty confident with the people I have helping me. If you all see anything really off with my figures please let me know. Thanks again for the help.
... I believe I can get about 30 small pieces of meat per chix breast ...
Unless the chickens in your area are WAY bigger than in my area, 30 pieces from one breast will be no bigger than your thumbnail.
Assume a breast is 8oz (that's about the size of the ones I get at Sams). 1/2 breast is 4oz (one serving). Cut that 1/2 breast into 4 pieces and you will have about four 1" cubes.
I feed 150-300 people almost every weekend. I'm pretty confident on my numbers on this.
Sounds like your husband is doing what a lot of brides try to do ..... they want the BIG party with all the bells and whistles but they try to do it "on the cheap". If there is an unofficial contest on who saves the most money, then tell him to buy cheaper napkins and use the powdered lemonade that you can get at GFS, or off-brand colas. But don't skimp on the main course.
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